WBT: Mirror & Scoreboard {App}

Friday, June 28, 2013

Before starting my WBT post, let me just show you what I broke down and bought today...

THE MATCHING CHAIR!! I almost snagged it up yesterday but I really was hoping it would be discounted a little more. But it was the ONLY one. And, the hubs kept telling me to get it. He is NOT good to have around when shopping. But, he does know me and I always wait and "think" about things and then when I finally decide that I want them, they're always gone!

I resisted. I'm leaving for vacay tomorrow, and I thought that it would be "meant to be" if it was still there when we return. Do you ever do that? I always play these mind games with myself when I shop.

Then Rachel {The Tattoeed Teacher} sent me a pic of TWO chairs in her car!!!! WHAT?! Now, I would have to see pics on her blog of her allllll comfy in that chair and be mega jealous! It is THAT comfy, y'all. I'm pretty sure it was made for my tush - perfect match. Well, that pushed me over the edge. Not to mention that I was getting my nails done RIGHT BY Hobby Lobby at that time. I think that was a sign!

So now, the teacher has a brand new comfy, beautiful reading spot. I may do read-alouds ALL DAY LONG {it was tempting already}!

I really don't have much to buy {or make} for my classroom this summer since I revamped it all last summer, so I feel okay about this splurge. The one thing I wanted to buy were new rugs. I threw out my two mid-sized carpets at the end of the year so I certainly need to replace those, along with my{very} old, as in rescued from the dumpster years ago, primary-colored GIANT carpet since it is not going to match this chair AT ALL. So, now I'm on the lookout for giant carpets. Let me know if you see a deal on any....my main colors are red and turquoise/teal.

Whole Brain Teaching:
If you have questions about WBT, feel free to leave them in the comments. At the end of this "series" of posts, I'll try to answer all of the questions that have been asked. However, know that I am in NO WAY a WBT expert. I just watched a ton of YouTube videos, downloaded a ton of their FREE RESOURCES, and jumped right in last year!

Yesterday, I posted about Teach/Okay and Switch. Today, we'll start with MIRROR.

Mirror is a great technique to have your students repeat what you say or your hand gestures so that they are involved.

When you want the teacher to mimic your gestures, you just hold your hands up {elbow bent, palms facing out, forearms straight up} and say Mirror. Then students hold their hands up ready to mimic your gestures. If you want them to mimic your words, you just say "Mirror Words" when you make the mirror sign.

When students imitate your motions, their motor cortex is activated, which is the brain's most reliable memory area. If they mirror your WORDS along with the gestures, FOUR parts of the brain are activated at once - seeing {visual cortex}, saying {Broca's area}, hearing {auditory cortex}, and doing {motor cortex} so the chances of the information "sticking" increases greatly. When these four parts of the brain are all active it is known as "Teacher Heaven" in the WBT world. :)

Pretty cool, huh? So, now we've talked about 1) Class/Yes, 2) Hands & Eyes, 3) Teach/Okay, 4) Switch, and 5) Mirror. These techniques are all super easy to implement, it will just take a day of modeling and practicing.

A day? ONE day? That's it? Yes! Especially if you incorporate The Scoreboard!!

The Scoreboard is a very simple "motivator" to keep students on track. Basically, you just need somewhere to draw a T-chart. One side has a smiley face and the other side a frowny face. This is what my scoreboard looks like:

I wanted a portable whiteboard so that I could carry it around the classroom with me, take it to lunch {I totally recommend this}, etc. I found this one at Target last summer and it was perfect since it had a pen attached and came with two magnets. I just covered the magnets and edges of the board with turquoise duct tape and used my Cameo to add vinyl letters to it and it fit my room perfectly. :)

When students are doing procedures really well, you reward them with a tally on the smiley side. You can involve them with "one-second parties" by letting them clap their hands together (once) and saying "Oh, yeah!" They love this!

On the other hand, if students do not complete procedures as expected (not quickly, with talking, etc) you put a tally on the frowny side. You can also involve the students on this side {it lets them get a little energy out} by saying "Mighty Groan!" when you tally a frowny. When you state this, students lift their shoulders to their ears and then force them down quickly with a grunt {ugh!}

The key to having the Scoreboard work is to use if often and never let the difference between smileys and frownies be greater than 3. If that starts to happen, FIND SOMETHING to reward or improve upon!! This is called the +-3 rule. This rule is in place because if the teacher rewards too much the children will become lackadaisical and if you punish too much students will become resentful.

I was SUPER consistent with The Scoreboard at the beginning of the year last year. It was so great when the students were just learning procedures. I was tallying like a mad woman! :) Later in the year, once they were sooooo good at those procedures, I feel like I became a little slack with the scoreboard and I noticed a difference in their behaviors! I definitely had to pick it back up!

Students' goal with The Scoreboard is to try to have more smilies than frownies at the end of the day. If they do, they are rewarded, but not with candy or trinkets or prizes. The reward could be 2-minutes of free time, a two-minute brain break, or two less problems of math homework, etc. TWO?? Yes, you will be surprised at what students will do for a two-minute or two-problem reward!! :)

Now, if students do not "win" on the scoreboard, I would have them practice The 5 Rules for two-minutes. That doesn't sound like much, but trust me.....2-minutes is a long time to practice 5 rules!
{5 Rules Post will be tomorrow!}

*** NOTE: For grades 5-12, WBT recommends using STUDENT/TEACHER on the scoreboard rather than SMILEY/FROWNY***

At the WBT conference, I learned that there is a Scoreboard App. While most things with WBT are absolutely FREE {I'm still not sure how they've managed that, but I'm not complaining!}, the APP does cost. It's $4.99 - anyone that has used it has said it is fabulous! I have not used it. I think it would be fantastic for when I'm not in the classroom, but I like using my little whiteboard in the classroom and I wouldn't like that I would then have TWO scoreboards going. But, if you carry your iPad or iPhone with you at all times, it might be worth checking out!

If you try it out, let me know what you think. I am easily persuaded. :)

14 comments

So glad you gave in and bought the matching chair! Did you use a coupon? There is almost always a 40% off coupon online...http://hobbylobby.com/weekly/weekly.cfm. Plus you do not have to print it off, just pull it up on your phone and they honor it. Maybe you could still get this discount, but if not, it is good to remember for the future!Take care,Michellefrom Well, Michelle?

I don't know how walked away from that chair - you've got some major will power! It is CRAZY adorable! Can't wait to see pics of them both in your room! Thanks so much for all the info on WBT - I did a few things last year but with your posts I think I'll be doing more! ~Courtney Polka Dot Lesson Plans

Looove reading your WBT posts! The more I read them the more I get excited about implementing more of the WBT methods in my classroom. Mirror and Scoreboard are two that haven't used with my 4th graders, but I am sure they will love it and it will keep them engaged as well as activating their whole brain. Love you idea of the portable dry erase board. Definitely will do that!

Lucky you to now have the chair and matching sofa. I hope you post pics of your room with both in place. Can't wait to see! You are going to have one fancy room.

Again Thanks so much for sharing and I'm looking forward to your post tomorrow.

Ahhhhh the colors in the chair and sofa you posted are bright and cheery! What a find! Glad you snatched them up. I love how your posts are always detailed and informative. Looking forward to rereading your WBT posts and implementing this year.

Thanks for the great scoreboard explanation. I did my own research on wbt as well. My scoreboard usage was not too consistent. I think that will be my goal for next year. Class yes is my favorite-right after that chair!!

Haha - good for you, Amanda! It looks like the perfect reading chair. :) Our classrooms become our second homes, so it makes sense for it to be well furnished, right?! I am loving all of these WBT resources. Thank you! I am not planning on going on all WBT this fall, but definitely want to incorporate some of the techniques. Thanks for sharing. :)

I love the chair! Your classroom is going to be amazing (although it already is). Thank you for the tip on the app! I wasn't very good with my scoreboard because I always forgot to grab it and take it to my small group station with me. Then, I'd forget to add to the board when we went back to whole group instruction. I think the app will work for me! Thanks :)))

Great ideas! And, I love that chair. I can't imaging spending that much on my classroom, though. All the little things really add up!

I used Class Dojo last year, which has individual and whole group tallies. It does the same thing with positive and negative behavior. The kiddos loved seeing if they could get a higher percentage as the day before. As the year went on, I too wained while using it and saw a distinct difference when I didn't!

You are doing an awesome job explaining the WBT techniques. I am a WBT fan and love the live streams from Chris Biffle on Tuesdays. I've use WBT for 4 years now and it does work and the kiddos do LOVE it! I began slowly and as I became more comfortable with the techniques added more. Ah-may-zu-zing! Finally convinced my kinder teammates to use it 2 years ago; they were shocked and pleasantly surprised it worked. Since the 4 of us rotate classes, it is awesome having a management system that was consistent and cohesive. Other teachers in the building hopped on board last year and now I am trying to get the whole school on the WBT Express. Toot, Toot!